EMD GP16
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The EMD GP16 is a series of rebuilt diesel-electric locomotives, a result of a remanufacturing program initiated by the
Seaboard Coast Line Railroad The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lin ...
(SCL) in an effort to spare the cost of purchasing new motive power in the late 1970s. This involved the rebuilding of their aging fleet of
EMD GP7 The EMD GP7 is a four-axle (AAR wheel arrangement#B-B, B-B) diesel-electric locomotive built by General Motors Electro-Motive Division and General Motors Diesel between October 1949 and May 1954.Pinkepank, Jerry A. (1973) pp. 53 The GP7 was ...
, GP9 and GP18
road switcher A road switcher locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive designed to both haul railroad car, railcars in mainline service and Shunting (rail), shunt them in railroad yards. Both type and term are North American in origin, although similar t ...
s (many of which were over twenty years old). 155 locomotives (122 GP7, 31 GP9 and two GP18) were rebuilt by the SCL.


The program

155 locomotives were rebuilt by the Seaboard Coast Line. The vast majority of them came from Atlantic Coast Line,
Seaboard Air Line The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...
and their subsidiaries (
Atlanta and West Point Railroad The Atlanta and West Point Rail Road was a railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, forming the east portion of the Atlanta, GA, Atlanta-Selma, AL, Selma West Point Route. The company was chartered in 1847 as the Atlanta and L ...
, Charleston and Western Carolina Railway,
Georgia Railroad Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of peo ...
, Western Railway of Alabama,
Winston-Salem Southbound Railway The Winston-Salem Southbound Railway is a short-line railroad jointly owned by CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS), which provide it with equipment. It connects with NS at the north end in Winston-Salem, NC, Winston-Salem, ...
); eight units came from
Clinchfield Railroad The Clinchfield Railroad was an operating and holding company for the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railway . The line ran from the coalfields of Virginia and Elkhorn City, Kentucky, to the textile mills of South Carolina. The 35-mile segmen ...
(with one of them ex
Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway was a Rail transport company, railway company that operated in the U.S. states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It began as the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, ...
), not counting the six units rebuilt at Paducah; seven units came from the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...
(including four ex-
Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad The Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad was a Class I railroad that linked Chicago, Illinois, Chicago to southern Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Louis, and Evansville, Indiana, Evansville. Founded in 1877, it grew aggressively and staye ...
units). The required modifications took nine weeks per unit on average to complete. The rebuild work was done at the railroad's Uceta Shops near
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, with the engines, bogies and traction motors rebuilt at Waycross and
Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. The program resulted in a cost savings of almost 50% over buying new locomotives. Included in the program: * Rebuilding the underframe assembly; * Remanufacturing the
Blomberg B The Blomberg B is a 2-axle bogie that was introduced by EMD in 1939 with the FT locomotive series; the original "B" version plus later "M" and "X" versions were quite successful and became standard equipment on a multitude of locomotive models. ...
two-axle
trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
, generators, and traction motors (all GP16s were configured with a B-B wheel arrangement); * Upgrading the
567 __NOTOC__ Year 567 ( DLXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 567 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europ ...
prime mover Prime mover may refer to: Philosophy *Unmoved mover, a concept in Aristotle's writings Engineering * Prime mover (engine or motor), a machine that converts various other forms of energy (chemical, electrical, fluid pressure/flow, etc.) into ener ...
with
EMD 645 The EMD 645 is a family of two-stroke diesel engines that was designed and manufactured by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors. While the 645 series was intended primarily for locomotive, marine and stationary engine use, one 16-cy ...
series components, which boosted the horsepower rating to 1,600 in the case of the former GP7 locomotives. This gave rise to the ''16'' designation. * Removal of the
dynamic brakes Dynamic braking is the use of an electric traction motor as a Electric generator, generator when slowing a vehicle such as an electric locomotive, electric or diesel locomotive, diesel-electric locomotive. It is termed "Resistor#Adjustable resisto ...
, and installation of a new type 26L air brake system. * Installation of a new high-voltage cabinet. * Lowering the front nose of the carbody to improve visibility, and retrofitting with a new cab and standard AAR control stand. Ancillary benefits included a lowered engine idling speed and increased fuel efficiency. SCL committed over 100 of its personnel to the conversion program. The first GP16 emerged from SCL's Uceta (
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
) shop in June 1979 while the last was placed into service during November 1982.


In service

The rebuilt locomotives saw service throughout the system, engaging in a variety of duties from local switching to main-line freight hauling. Though SCL became part of
CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
in the 1980s, the majority of the units remained active until 1992, when the bulk of the roster was retired and sold-off. Many GP16s remain in active service today on
short line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...
s around the country, far exceeding their 15-year projected lifespan. In 1993, the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
bought a small number of GP16s from CSX, which led some people to think the Army built it. The locomotives were sent to
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...
's Juniata Locomotive Shops to be remanufactured under contract with the Army. When they were completed, Conrail put a GP9M plate on them. These locomotives are controlled by Woodward PGR type diesel engine governors. File:CSX 1710 at Atlanta, GA on June 10, 1987 02 (22741249726).jpg, Two
CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
, ex-
SCL SCL may refer to: Computing * System Control Language, of the ICL VME operating system * SC++L, the C++ standard library * Software Collections in the CentOS Linux distribution * System Command Language of the NOS/VE CDC Cyber operating syst ...
GP16s, still in Family Lines System livery File:Conrail plate on USAX 4635, a GP16.JPG, A plate
Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...
on USAX 4635, a GP16 at
Fort Eustis Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis. The post is the home to the United States Army Training and Doctrin ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, when remanufactured in 1993 File:USAX 4635 GP16.jpg, CSX sold many GP16s to the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
and today #4635 serves at
Fort Eustis Fort Eustis is a United States Army installation in Newport News, Virginia. In 2010, it was combined with nearby Langley Air Force Base to form Joint Base Langley–Eustis. The post is the home to the United States Army Training and Doctrin ...
File:CWRY444GP16.JPG, Rail Link No. 444, a GP16 rebuild, works on the Commonwealth Railway in
Suffolk, Virginia Suffolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. As of 2020, the population was 94,324. It is the List of cities in Virginia, 10th-most populous city in Virginia, the largest city in Virginia by bou ...


Other units called GP16

*In the late 1960s through the early 1970s, the
Missouri Pacific The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...
repowered their entire roster of high-hood
ALCO RS-11 The ALCO RS-11 is a class of diesel-electric locomotive rated at , that rode on two-axle trucks, having a B-B wheel arrangement. This model was built by both Alco (327 units) and Montreal Locomotive Works (99 units). Total production was 433 uni ...
s with
EMD 567 The EMD 567 is a line of large medium-speed diesel engines built by Electro-Motive Diesel, General Motors' Electro-Motive Division. This engine, which succeeded Winton Motor Carriage Company, Winton's 201A, was used in EMD's locomotives from 193 ...
series diesel engines. These converted units were designated by the MP as "GP16s" presumably to reflect their new horsepower rating. *Clinchfield Railroad had six GP7s rebuilt by ICG Paducah and they were called GP16s, but built to the same standard as ICG GP11s. When the CSX merger occurred these engines were grouped as GP16s. Two notable features were the angled cab and air intake filters.


See also

*
List of GM-EMD locomotives The following is a list of locomotives produced by the Electro-Motive Corporation (EMC), and its successors General Motors Electro-Motive Division (GM-EMD) and Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD). Streamlined power cars and early experimental locomotive ...


References

* * * * SCL's TAMPA REBUILD – THE "GP16" by Doug Nuckles and the Diesel Era Staff, Diesel Era July August 1994 pp. 27–40


External links


EMD GP16 complete roster and origins
''trainweb.org''.

''CSX photo archives,'' ''trainweb.org''. {{EMD diesels B-B locomotives Electro-Motive Diesel locomotives Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Seaboard System Railroad Diesel–electric locomotives of the United States Railway locomotives introduced in 1979 Standard-gauge locomotives of the United States Rebuilt diesel locomotives